Monday, 11 November 2013

Ethiopia’s slow but steady march forward

By LEE MWITI | Thursday, November 7
2013 at
10:53

While all the focus has been on the billion-dollar mega
projects such as the Grand Renaissance dam and other big-dollar
infrastructure projects, it is a tour of Addis Ababa that shows just how
much Ethiopia is on the move.

The entire capital city feels like one giant
construction site, from skyscrapers steadily darkening the skyline to
numerous luxury hotels and the ubiquitous Chinese swarming all over
vital city arteries.

Addis Ababa’s real estate sector is booming—one of
the more reliable indicators of strong economic growth in a country.
The Horn of Africa country has consistently chalked up double-digit
growth in recent years, but economists have warned that the benefits
will take a bit longer to be felt by the majority of the 78 million
inhabitants who live below the poverty line.

It is however misleading to suggest the country’s
growth is ordered. Some wag once said a country’s observance of traffic
rules is as good an indicator as any of the state of the national
psyche. In this regard Ethiopia’s drivers resemble kamikaze pilots.

But the scale of the economic activity is only in
keeping with its national Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP) launched
three years ago. This plan outlines a target of creating three million
new job opportunities by 2025 and is the reference point for all the
economic buzz being felt.

Clever move

The country is also considering a debut Eurobond
issue to fund the infrastructure surge, even as it comes under criticism
for its reluctance to open up its much coveted financial and
telecommunications sector to outside employers.

These, it says, are funding all the growth
projects. It is all in keeping with the theme that Prime Minister
Hailemariam Desalegn has no intention of deviating from the path trodden
by his predecessor Meles Zenawi.

Indeed nothing appears to have changed in
Ethiopian political life since the transition. The more things change
the more they remain the same, Ethiopians I interacted with say, after a
shrug.

Despite taking a barrage of criticism from rights
groups, there is much to be admired in Ethiopia’s resilience in the face
of the sustained campaign. It even managed to pull off a clever move
by allowing the leaders of Africa’s independent media to hold their
annual high-profile get-together in the capital, in what detractors
have equated to hiding in plain sight.

"No one has been convicted because of the speech
they made or the article they have written," PM Hailemariam said
recently. "Democracy is a process ... and Ethiopia is on the right track
building a democratic culture."

Underneath the controversy, the message in
Ethiopia’s command economy is clear: Growth at all cost. And as long as
the ordinary Ethiopian is well-fed, such criticism from outside flies
over their head.

Indeed, it has even had the unintended but welcome effect of inspiring zealous patriotism as a sense of near- siege is created.

And as the building boom heaves and strains, and
the drills bore in grating dissonance, one thing is undisputed: Nothing
will stop the proud country from its determined march forward.